Ties That Bind
by oony
Summary: Sirius and Remus say 'I do'.  The Ministry says 'We don't think so.'
1. Chapter 1

Rating of PG-13.

I do not own the characters, JKR does. I simply borrow them.

Sirius and Remus say "I do." But the Ministry of Magic says "We don't think so."

On a side note, I know that it is a young marriage, but the setting worked better for me if they were at school.

Ties That Bind

-

"I do."

"I--" Remus hesitated slightly. "I do."

"I now pronounce you husband and…Husband."

The two teens exchanged a grin, amber and silver eyes sparkling with joy.

"You may now kiss--" Dumbledore broke off, realizing that 'the bride' wouldn't fit. "Each other."

They sealed the forever promise with a kiss. The tiny crowd that had gathered on the frost lit grounds all broke into a mild applause as the newly wed couple gently broke their passion filled kiss.

Slowly, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin made their way hand in hand down the natural frost carpet. The newly fallen powder whispered around them as they went.

-

"Sirius?" Remus asked, looking up at his newly made husband that sat across from him in the common room.

"Hm?" Sirius didn't look up from the golden band he was admiring that wrapped its way around his left ring finger.

"I need you to sign this," the amber eyed pushed a green and white certificate under Sirius' hand.

Sirius broke his gaze from the slender ring that was glinting in the light from the fireplace and focused it instead on the official looking, green and white Ministry of Magic certificate.

"What's this for?"

"Well…" Remus trailed off, taking his time selecting his next few words. "It took a lot of convincing on my part to get the Ministry to let us even do this--"

"Yeah…What do they want? A signed paper that says I'm married to a werewolf at my own free will?"

"No, that's this one."

The young werewolf held up a similar looking Ministry paper. Sirius wrinkled his nose in annoyance and disgust.

"So what's _this_ one for?"

Remus averted his eyes and muttered something to the floor.

"What?"

"It's for a marriage bond."

"What about a marriage bond? I thought I made it clear that we were getting an equal bond--"

"You did."

"You don't want one?"

"_Yes_, God yes. More than anything."

"Then--"

"You see, Padfoot…The Ministry said they'd let me marry you…" Remus' voice softened and he slowly brought his head up to look his husband straight in the eye.

"What is it?" Sirius asked with the hair on the back of his neck on end.

"They want us to have a dominance bond, Sirius."

-

"I can't believe this!" Sirius stormed to James as he paced angrily around the circumference of the circular dorm room.

"Hey, mate, calm down," James tried unsuccessfully to get his ranting best friend to relax before he punched a hole in the wall or wore a hole in the floor from his pacing, or both.

"It can't be so bad. My parents have a dominance bond, Pads. Look at them! They've been married for twenty-one years and had five kids. They look pretty happy to me," the antlered Animagus was interrupted with a disbelieving snort. "Well, they are! It could be a lot worse."

"Oh, yeah? Mind telling me how so?"

"Well…" James though for a moment. "At least you know he can never cheat on you," he argued weakly.

"James, he'd never do that to begin with," Sirius snapped. "It's just an excuse to humiliate him. They find it amusing to treat him like a goddamn, fucking _animal_."

"Padfoot…"

"It's not fair," the grim Animagus whispered, sliding slowly down the wall and hiding his face in his hands. "They can't do this. He doesn't _deserve_ this shit."

James sighed and sloughed down next to him.

"I know, but what else can you do? It's not like it's gonna interfere with your everyday life or anything. You wont even know it's there. My parents get on just fine with it."

"Yeah…"

"So, did you sign it?" James asked, already knowing the answer.

Sirius sighed and then moaned into his hands.

"Course I did. We both want this just so badly."

His words echoed around the room for a long time.

-

The following day, with signed form in hand, Remus flooed to the Ministry of Magic with the help of Dumbledore's marble fireplace. He arrived with the all too familiar ringing noise filling his ears and proceeded to have his wand checked and balanced at the security desk.

He rode to the floor for the Control and Regulation of Dangerous Creatures, got off, and strode quickly and quietly down the hall until he reached a door near the top of the corridor.

Room D12, Werewolf Control the shinning black plate with the white engraved letters read.

Remus took a second to regard the door with a high sense of dislike before turning the tarnished, brass knob and allowing himself entrance.

The spell took a total of two hours to complete before Remus Lupin stumbled out of room D12 pale and shaking.

-


	2. Chapter 2

Rating of PG-13.

I do not own the characters, JKR does. I simply borrow them.

Sirius and Remus say "I do." The Ministry says "We don't think so."

Ties That Bind.

-

The days that followed the day after the dominance bond had been preformed showed a great change in Remus' behavior towards Sirius. He would tag after him like a puppy waiting for its master to drop a scrap. While the two of them were always close by to one another or brushing shoulders, Remus never walked a step ahead of Sirius.

Remus would often shoot Sirius questioning glances when asked a question and he wouldn't talk until after Sirius had addressed him. After a week of this continued behavior Sirius began to question Remus about what the dominance bond entailed.

And Remus would always respond in the same way, with a shrug before averting his eyes.

-

"I want that fifteen inch essay on Vampires due on my desk, Tuesday at the _start_ of class! No exceptions, as is always!" Alastor Moody roared over the shrill ring of the school bell and the clatter that was his students rushing for the door.

Moody marched back to his desk and started to pile his students' essays on top of one another. His eyes snapped up and he glanced around the room, beady black eyes coming to land on Remus. Remus who was sitting perfectly still in his chair and staring straight ahead. His ball point pen, for Remus was one of the students that had no patience for inking a quill every other word, in one hand.

Moody raised an eyebrow and had just opened his mouth when he was interrupted by a certain black haired boy appearing in the classroom door frame and calling to the straight backed werewolf.

With a trace of puzzlement and shock, Alastor Moody watched as Remus Lupin calmly and quietly put his things away, swung his bag over his shoulder and followed at Sirius' heels out to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

"Odd…" the Defense teacher muttered and tucked the two foot essays under his arm. He headed for his joined office.

-

"I don't get it," Sirius muttered when Remus left the common room for the first time in hours after Sirius had suggested he get outside for a little fresh air.

"Don't get what?" James asked, absorbed in the latest copy of 'Which Broomstick'.

Sirius glanced over at him and rolled his eyes.

_Honestly, you'd think that thing had naked women posing in suggestive positions or something by the way he drools all over it._

"Remus."

James turned the page and looked up at the portrait hole that the person in question had just disappeared though.

"Dunno, what about him?"

"James?"

"What?"

"How many different kinds of marriage bonds are there?"

"Three, why?"

"Three," Sirius echoed the number to himself. "But I thought there were only two."

"Well, in a sense there are only two."

"Not following."

"The third one isn't really used in society today. It was the most common, well, the _only_ one, in use back in medieval times."

"What's the third bond?"

"Well, there's the equal bond and the dominance bond-"

"Yeah, yeah. I know about those. You said that your parents have a dominance bond? What's that like?"

James shrugged. "He decides all of the legal stuff in the relationship. Everything goes in his name and my mom can't handle the money unless she asks him. She can't run off with another man, either. They only have one because all arranged marriages have one. Why do you ask?"

"So, what's this third one then?"

"Um...Slavery bond."

"The what?"

"Slavery."

"Slavery," the grim Animagus repeated the word quietly to himself a few times, rolling it slowly on his tongue.

"Yeah, but like I said, it's not used anymore," James shrugged, turning the page of his magazine as his attention was directed back to it.

"Do you know anything about it?"

"Not really, why?" James took a second to tare his eyes away form the magazine and regarded Sirius over the top of it with a raised eyebrow. "Why are you so interested?"

"Just wondering that's all."

James nodded slowly.

"I know a little bit from what I've heard my dad say."

"What'd he say?"

"That they're horrible. He was furious when the Ministry wanted to pass a law that would have it legalized. They have a person asking permission to do _anything_. I mean, they can't sit down by their own will or anything. Quite horrible and easily understood why it's called a slavery bond."

"Slavery," Sirius repeated the word for a last time when realization struck him hard in the face like a ton of bricks.

-

"You lied to me," Sirius growled, sounding more like the bear seized dog that he was more than ever.

"I didn't--" Remus protested quickly.

"Bull shit. You _told_ me that this was a _dominance_ bond, did you not?"

"I…Yeah."

"Is it?"

Amber eyes fell to meet the floor.

"_Look at me_."

Sirius flinched when he saw how quickly Remus jumped to attention.

"_Is it_?"

"No."

Sirius swore loudly and paced tight circles, hands fisting in his hair.

"I don't want this!"

Remus' eyes flashed.

"You don't have to--"

"Good," Sirius cut him off sharply. "Because we're getting rid of it."

"There's only one way to--"

"I don't care! Just take it off!" His words had started with a scream and ended in a sob. "Take it off, Moony. Please. I can't do this to you."

Silver eyes slowly filled with tears. Remus made a move to embrace him and stopped short with his hand an inch above Sirius' shoulder.

He looked sadly at his hand, let it drop limply to his side, and settled reluctantly for comforting his husband with his eyes.

"The only way to get it revised is to…" he trailed off, unable to finish.

"What is it?" Sirius asked quietly, taking Remus gently by the hand and guiding him to sit in his lap.

"A divorce."

-

"This is just terrible," Sirius said with a monotone voice.

"What's terrible?" James asked from his spot across the marble chess board. "How bad you're losing? Yeah, I know."

"Everything," he said with no emotion in his voice.

James just shook his head as he watched one of his pieces destroy Sirius' last pawn.

"You're not happy, are you? I thought you wanted to marry him--"

"I did!" He groaned and slumped back in his chair. "I can't do this. The damn Ministry's got him taking orders and asking permission every minute of every single fucking day!"

"Padfoot--"

"Do you know what he asked me this morning, Prongs?" Sirius whispered with the same monotone voice.

The antlered Animagus shook his head, putting his full attention on Sirius when he saw that he wasn't playing around.

"He asked me," Sirius' voice seemed choked, as if every syllable was a struggle to get out. "If he could leave the dorm this morning."

James inhaled sharply.

"He must have been standing by the door for hours," he went on, speaking more to himself than to James. "You know how he likes to get up early and all. Just standing there, waiting for me to get up to tell him he's _allowed_ to leave the goddamn room."

"Do you know what he asked me on our way to the Great Hall?"

"No," James hesitated slightly. He wasn't going to get a pretty answer by the look on Sirius' face.

"If he could eat."

Silence.

"Do you know what he asked me when we got _into _the Hall?"

His best friend simply shook his head.

"He asked me what he was_ allowed_ _to eat_."

The silence was so intense that it was deafening.

-

Moody scribbled notes tirelessly upon the black board centering around advanced shielding and protecting spells. He had broken his record. Whit a grunt, Moody stepped back from his three full black boards full of notes and instructions, more notes and incantations. He turned around and nearly scowled at the shocked expression on his Defense classes' faces.

"Well?" He barked, jabbing a finger at the chalk covered boards. "Get writing!"

The classroom burst into life at his words. Quills moved rapidly across wrinkled parchment, heads bowed low, shoulders hunched, and one student that kept glancing from the board to his pen laying on the desk.

"I want _all_ of this done in the next five minutes," his words seemed to address the class as a whole, but both he and Remus knew who he was talking to.

Remus' fingers clenched and unclenched next to the blue ink pen while amber eyes darted wildly from the board, to his paper, to Moody, and lastly to Sirius. Sirius who was so close, being just on the other side of the room, but so far away. Cursing his luck, Remus slowly raised his hand. Moody nodded toward him.

"Um...Professor?"

"Lupin?"

"May I...Perhaps move my seat? I'm having trouble seeing the board."

"That depends, where to?"

"The other side of the room, sir."

Moody raised an eyebrow but gave his silent okay.

Remus sighed and thanked the Defense professor quietly, gathered up his things and moved to an empty seat on Sirius' right side.

"Sirius?" He whispered, hesitating before sitting down and looking wearily at his bag.

"Hm?"

Sirius leaned back in his chair, doodling on his parchment with the occasional scribbled note in the corner.

"Can I..." Remus trailed off, embarrassed that he had to ask permission.

"Yeah?"

Silver eyes focused on the paw print he was drawing in the center of his notes.

"Padfoot, can I take notes?" He muttered, head bowed and brown hair falling into his eyes.

Sirius' hand stopped flying across the parchment.

"What?" He asked, astounded.

The werewolf took a deep breath, it seemed that asking to do such a simple task drained him of what little self respect and esteem he had.

"Did you just ask me to..."

Remus nodded and Sirius lapsed into silence.

"Of course you can, Moony. You have my--" He choked. "Permission. Always."

"Thanks, Sirius."

With a pang of hurt, the grim Animagus watched as his husband's slim fingers curled around the plastic of the pen. The point paused halfway to the parchment and Remus looked up at him with questioning eyes.

The silent, _may I start_, voiced in the depths of his eyes.

Sirius flinched and nodded.

He flinched again when he saw Remus comply out of the corner of his eye.

-

They laid curled in bed and Sirius had to admit that he wasn't used to such a great distance, even if it was only a mere inch.

Remus laid curled close to his side, or at least as close as he could get without making contact. It bothered Sirius. A lot.

_He had more freedom as my boyfriend than he does as my husband...It's not right..._ Sirius thought bitterly as he watched Remus' chest rise and fall gently as they faced one another.

Long, slim fingers made to reach out as if to brush the silky, black hair out of sterling eyes. Remus froze with his hand outstretched in front of Sirius' face. His eyes hardened slightly, if only for a second, before his arm fell limply to his side.

"Sirius?"

"Yeah?"

"Um...Listen, I know that you're going to get annoyed with this but..." Remus struggled with the words, sighed in defeat and rolled over. "No, just forget it. It's stupid."

"No, what is it?" He pushed Remus' shoulder gently down until Remus was lying on his back and leaned over him, hair cascading around his pale face and brushing the smooth planes of Remus' face. "Moony," he traced a finger down the side of his face. "Tell me."

Remus' eyes followed along the length of Sirius' arm until they came to rest on the hand that gently rubbed his shoulder.

"Wish I could do that," he mumbled, not realizing that it was not only voiced inside the private confides of his mind.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Sirius sighed, it wasn't supposed to be like this.

"Padfoot?"

"Yeah?"

"May I touch you?"

For what seemed like an eternity, the sable haired boy sat in shock. Then, as the words slowly seeped into his brain, he started to cry. Slow tears gliding down the tip of his nose and the sides of his face without any sound. He embraced the smaller boy tightly.

The tears fell faster, harder, when Remus' hands stayed clenched at his sides.

"Yes, oh God yes, Moony. Always, Rem."

The tears fell the hardest when they were wrapped in each others arms, only after having the permission to do so.

-


	3. Chapter 3

Rating of PG-13.

I do not own the characters, JKR does. I simply borrow them.

Sirius and Remus say "I do." The Ministry says "We don't think so."

Ties That Bind.

-

"Remus, please," Sirius pleaded with his husband the next day.

"No. I knew that it was going to be rough when I agreed to it, but I really don't mind--"

"Don't mind? How can you not mind! You have to have my _permission _to stand up! Don't even try to lie to me by telling me that you're happy."

"Well, I am perfectly happy."

"I know you're not."

Remus sighed and looked up at Sirius from his seat on the bed.

"Listen, Pads, this is my sacrifice--"

"Sacrifice to what?" The grim Animagus demanded.

"Sacrifice to be with you--" Remus was cut off mid sentence when he suddenly found Sirius' entire body weight pinning his down against the mattress. Wide amber eyes locked with silver.

"There's no price paid," Sirius growled. "There's no permission _needed_."

The werewolf looked up at the muscular body that easily pinned him to the bed, silently straining against the invisible bond that held him so perfectly still.

"No Sirius. I want this. I want to be yours--"

"You'll be mine, fucking bond or not." Moist lips pressed against his in reassurance.

"I know, but...Don't you see what me excepting this slavery bond means?"

"Either that you're incredibly stupid or you really like taking orders a lot more than I thought you did."

"No, it shows how much I love you. How much I trust you."

Sirius fell silent, trying to piece together the puzzle of Remus' words in his mind. Remus sighed.

"You see, Sirius. I had to _accept_ this. They couldn't force it on me. It shows that I love you enough to give up something as special and important as what little freedom I had to you."

Sirius noted the word _had_.

"It says that I trust you with anything. Giving you this kind of control over me. You could do _whatever_ it is that you wanted. But I know that you'd never do that. That's why I took this bond."

"Moony, you didn't have to do that for me," Sirius whispered. "I'd always know how much you love me, even without a slavery bond."

"Thank--"

"And I'll always know that even if we do get a divorce. Please, Moony, please. I don't want to do this to you. I don't want to see you like this."

"I'm sorry, Padfoot, but I want this."

"I _know _that you're not happy."

"You do know that you do not need my consent for this. You could just do it."

"What, no. I'm _not_ going to use this stupid advantage," Sirius spat.

"Well, then, Padfoot, I'm afraid it stays. I can handle it."

"Stubborn bastard," Sirius sighed and pinned Remus to the bed with a sound kiss on the lips.

He pulled back and murmured in Remus' ear.

And Remus kissed him back.

-

"What am I supposed to _do_?" Sirius groaned a month later as he sat slouched in detention with his Defense professor who had become almost a mentor to him.

"How about not talking so much in class," Moody grunted as he sat grading his third year tests.

"I'm not talking about the bloody detention," Sirius growled.

"Oh?"

"_No, _I'm talking about how the hell am I going to break this slavery bond that the Ministry's got on him."

Moony shrugged, scribbling out the final score on the top of the paper.

"Get a divorce."

"It's not that simple..."

"How so?" The Defense professor asked impatiently, only briefly looking up from his current grading.

"He doesn't want to--" Sirius started before Moody overrode him.

"What don't you get about a _slavery bond_, Black? You have total control. All you have to do is get the right paper work and he'll have no way to protest."

"But I don't want to take advantage of it. He trusted me _not_ to."

"Well, then," Moody sighed and set down his quill after grading the last of the test papers and stacking them neatly on top of one another. "You could always go with plan b."

"There's a plan b?" Sirius asked, sounding highly disbelieving with a raised eyebrow.

"There always is." Moody drank deeply from the mug on his desk.

"I'm listening."

Moody slowly set down his mug and regarded his young student thoughtfully.

"You've got to make him want it."

Sirius groaned. "Just _how _would I do that?"

"Well, it's really easy. I can't believe you didn't come to think of it before, actually. I mean if getting a divorce by force bothers you that much, there's obviously no other way--"

"_Please do explain._"

"All right, all right. No need to get your stomach in knots."

Sirius sighed heavily.

"Just deny him. When he asks, reply no. Like I said, quite simple if you really think about it."

"But--"

"See, look at it this way," Moody folded his arms and leaned forward slightly across the desk. "You're not taking advantage of him. Just saying no."

"Saying no..."

"Exactly, you do just what I said and he'll be sobbing for a divorce."

Sirius inwardly winced with the mental image that presented itself.

"But I don't want to--"

"Do you have any other bright ideas?" The professor snapped.

The grim Animagus shut his mouth quickly. He came upon the sad realization that there really was no other way.

He just wished that it was as easily done as said.

-


	4. Chapter 4

Rating of PG-13.

I do not own the characters, JKR does. I simply borrow them.

Sirius and Remus say "I do." The Ministry says "We don't think so."

Ties That Bind.

-

The long sounding bell rang loudly, bringing with it the end of class. All of the students in the Defense classroom made a beeline for the door.

Over the last month, Sirius and Remus had gotten rather used to the slavery bond and the power that it had. Sirius bent down and whispered into Remus' ear. He nodded and left the classroom to wait for Sirius in the hallway. Sirius watched him go, took a deep breath, and exited himself with head high.

Remus shifted his weight uncomfortably from foot to foot.

"Sirius...Can I go eat lunch?"

Sirius inwardly flinched.

"No," he answered quietly, avoiding Remus' eyes. "No, I don't think so."

Remus was silent as Sirius turned his back on him.

"Where are you going?"

"Dorm."

"Can I...?" Remus trailed off.

"No," Sirius said gently. "I—Why don't you just stay here?"

"Here?"

"Yeah, don't move."

"Can I sit down?" Sirius paused.

"No. Just—Stand. Right here. I'll be back in a little bit."

He had to turn quickly and flee before he could catch sight of Remus' puzzled expression and least he let Remus see the tear gliding down his cheek.

-

Ten minutes.

Twenty minutes.

Thirty minutes.

Remus lost track of time after an hour.

His stomach growled again and he nearly whimpered with want to sit and move his stiff body. To his displeasure he was held fast by the bond and could do little more than breath and blink. And of course torture himself with his own thoughts that played cat and mouse around and around his head.

It seemed that Sirius would never come back as another minute ticked by. The intensity of time was magnified by his hunger and loneliness.

No one had been by the deserted Defense corridor since he had been sentenced to stand still and not to move. Classes had ended for the day and everyone had else where to be rather than the second floor Defense corridor.

By the time the sun was starting to set beyond the tall glass windows, Remus' amber eyes started to close in exhaustion. It was during one of these short periods of uneasy and uncomfortable sleep that he heard something that made his eyes snap open.

Someone was humming. Distantly, the steady beat of footsteps sounded against the walls. Remus hoped it would be Sirius coming to free him from his self inflicted prison.

As the footfalls grew nearer, he could tell that it was not Sirius and suppressed a groan. The sounds of the footsteps did not math those of Sirius' loping gait. He silently watched the corner and felt a jolt when he saw the familiar hazel eyed, messy black haired Quidditch captain.

"Prongs!" Remus yelled quickly as James made to turn down another hallway that would take him even further away.

Upon hearing his nickname that was only used by those closest to him, James doubled back. He grinned when he saw Remus and crossed the hallway toward him.

"There you are. I was wondering where you'd gotten to. Why weren't you at dinner?" James asked suspiciously, eying the already too thin figure.

"It's nothing like that," Remus nearly snapped. Being stranded in the middle of a hallway for a prolonged period of time had done nothing good for his mood.

"Never said it was," James defended. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Dunno."

James raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean that you don't know why you're sitting here?"

"Standing."

"What?"

"I'm not _sitting_. I'm _standing_," Remus snapped, thinking back to Sirius' words.

_No. Just—Stand. Right here. I'll be back in a little bit._

"Sitting, standing," the Animagus waved a hand in the air to dismiss the sentence. "Whatever. C'mon, let's go back to the common room."

James turned and took a few steps. Halfway down the hallway, he looked over his shoulder at Remus with a frown.

"Well?"

"I...Can't. Can you get Sirius for me?"

"You can't? What do you mean you can't?" James half asked half uneasily laughed. He had a vague understanding but he had never thought that Sirius would every really use the power that came attached with the slavery bond. "Did somebody hex you?"

Remus shook his head. "I wish this could be undone with a simple flick of the wand, James."

"Remus--"

"Have you seen Sirius?"

"What? Oh, yeah. He was out on the front lawn earlier, but I think he's in the common room now."

Remus' blood ran cold. Sirius was lounging around at his pleasure while he had to stand in the middle of a deserted corridor with little more than the reassurance that Sirius would return soon.

"No reason," Remus hid his fury well with a calculated tone. "Look, could you go get him, please?"

"Yeah. Sure, hold on," James said uneasily, now knowing that this was the work of the unjust marriage bond. James gave his best friend one last parting look and hurried off.

Ten minutes later, after a very angry James had had his choice words with Sirius before they went to Remus, he returned with an expressionless Sirius in tow.

Sirius turned to James and mouthed something so quiet that not even Remus' sensitive hearing could hear him. It bothered him. A lot. He shifted uncomfortably again.

James quickly glanced from Sirius to Remus with a frown and left after hissing something quiet back at Sirius.

Sirius watched him go until he had completely turned the corner before he turned to Remus.

"Look," Sirius started with his hand rubbing at the back of his neck. "About all this..."

By _about all this_ he meant the episode where he left Remus abandoned in the corridor. He didn't finish his sentence.

"S'okay," Remus muttered, finding that he couldn't summon his fury at the moment. "But Padfoot, I'm really hungry. Sirius, can I eat now?"

Sirius hesitated, thinking back to what Moody had said. Just deny him. But Remus was hungry and, after all, he did have to eat sometime.

"Yeah, I'm hungry too. Let's go on down to the kitchens."

His voice was soft, gentle, sad about what he was doing. A small smile crossed the werewolf's lips and for the first time in nearly two hours he did more than breathe and blink.

-

"Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate," Remus muttered when Sirius and he climbed through the portrait that concealed the kitchens of Hogwarts.

He rummaged through the tall cabinet at the back of the enormous room where he knew the house elves kept all of their very best milk chocolate for decorating the numerous cakes and deserts. Sirius climbed in after him and watched as his husband stood thoughtfully in front of the rich candy.

"Who said you could have any chocolate?" The grim Animagus asked quietly. Sirius stood behind the smaller boy and reached over his shoulder to close the giant metal door slowly.

"But--"

"No."

Remus turned to face him. The bitter look on his face enough to ask the unvoiced question.

"Bread. You can have some bread."

-

Sirius continued his subtle tactic for a number of weeks. With each day that passed, he became even more cruel in his desperate situation.

Remus had gotten in trouble more than once with his professors when Sirius had refused to let him do his homework. The results were starting to show on his school reports. He knew something was off. Knew something was wrong. He was simply in denial of the obvious.

Wrong when Sirius said he couldn't leave the dorm room, thus causing him to miss class. Wrong when he was told he wasn't allowed to read, do his homework. Wrong when he wasn't allowed to move for the better part of the hour. Something had gone terribly wrong somewhere.

Remus just didn't know where or why.

-

A large crowd stood gathered around the old bulletin board in the entrance hall. An excited bubble of talk hummed throughout the hall.

"What's all this about?" Sirius tapped James on the shoulder.

"Hogsmead trip. We've got the perfect weather too, I'd say," James declared happily and subconsciously ran his hand through his hair. "Do you think Evans will go with me..."

Sirius snorted and reached over a few excited third years' heads to sign his name on the sheet.

"May as well forget it, Prongs," he shot a quick look at the girl in question. The fiery redhead was busy talking with a group of her friends. Obviously planning her own Hogsmead visit, and by the looks of it one that did _not _include one James Potter.

"Sorry, mate. No such luck."

"Damn."

"Better luck next time, Prongs."

Remus pushed his way through the crowd politely and stood at Sirius' shoulder.

"What's the sign for?" He asked the duo.

Sirius gritted his teeth together and exchanged a quick look with James. James' eyes hardened briefly but he concentrated hard on not looking at either of his friends.

"Who said you could speak?" Sirius snapped, angry with himself. Remus shrugged and looked at the floor.

"It's for a Hogsmead trip, Moony," James said quietly.

Remus made no reaction and stared intently at the laces of his shoes.

"And no," Sirius said, although it nearly chocked him. "You may not go."

Remus' head shot up and he couldn't help but make a small noise of protest in the back of his throat. Sirius raised an eyebrow but Remus didn't offer anything else and remained silent once again.

-


	5. Chapter 5

Rating of PG-13.

I do not own the characters, JKR does. I simply borrow them.

Sirius and Remus say "I do." The Ministry says "We don't think so."

Ties That Bind.

-

James sighed and headed up the staircase that led to their shared dorm room. He walked down the hall until he reached the seventh year door and paused outside of it. Carefully, holding his breath, James pressed his ear against it.

Beyond the door, he could just make out a soft sound. A muffled sort of sound. It could have been anything, but James thought that he had a pretty good idea as to what it was. He just hoped that he was wrong as he opened the door as quietly as he could.

"Rem? Remus, you in here?"

The quiet dry sobs, as James was sure of it now that he was actually in the room, stopped. James slipped in through the tiny space in between the door and the frame so as not to cause it by creaking.

"Yeah, James. What do you need?" He asked with a neutral voice that was void of all emotion, his back facing his friend.

James inwardly winced as he walked up to his bed that was next to Remus'. He entwined his fingers in the long curtains and leaned against the bedpost. If he hadn't been listening only a moment before, he would have never known Remus had been upset and would have probably just left.

_How many times has that happened since I've known you, Rem?_

"I don't _always_ want something. Sometimes I just like to make sure you're okay."

Remus bit his lip and looked over his shoulder at James.

"Yeah, Prongs, I'm fine. Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?"

James was shocked at how convincing he sounded and that his smile was easy, if not a little sad around the corners. He had never really paid too much attention at watching Remus to see if he was telling the truth or not.

"I heard you, Moony," James whispered. "Are you upset about the Hogsmead trip--"

"I am not upset over something as trivial as a Hogsmead trip," Remus said quietly, turning his face away from James again and clutching a worn corner paper back to his chest.

"C'mon, don't be like that. Look at me," James said as he pushed himself away from his four poster and took a few paces towards Remus' until his keens hit the mattress.

"He hates me."

James ground his teeth together. This was not where he wanted this conversation to go. He was already mad at Sirius, but he didn't want to talk about it.

"Who?"

"Sirius."

"No. No, he doesn't hate you," James said reassuringly as he moved to the other side of the bed so as to be able to look Remus in the face. "He loves you, Rem, I know he does—what's wrong?"

James was knelt in front of his friend so that he could speak directly to him. Traitor tears ran freely down Remus' face.

"Moony, what's wrong?" Remus shook his head and held out the blue covered book.

James took it and turned it over in this hands and studied it slowly for a minute.

"He wont let me read," Remus explained at last, in that same quiet, emotionless voice.

James looked up quickly, the book stopped its rotating.

_Oh, Moony..._

"I only have six more pages to go," Remus continued, gently pulling the book from James' hands and looked up at him with a sad smile. "You see, I've been reading it for a few weeks now, and it is rather good."

James swallowed the involuntary lump in this throat and took the book back.

"Do you want me to read it to you?" James asked, yet already knowing how Remus would respond. Remus shook his head without hesitation.

"No, that's okay. Thanks, Prongs, but I'd rather read it myself. It's so much better that way."

The bespectacled boy nodded and handed the book back to Remus. He stood up slowly, studied Remus carefully for a moment before squeezing his shoulder gently and leaving without another word. Leaving Remus free to ponder over his book's could be fairy tale ending.

-

"Sirius," Remus whispered, tugging on his husband's sleeve as they waited outside of the potions classroom.

Professor Slughorn had decided to test them individually. Each test took about ten minutes each so the line outside of the potions classroom was rather long.

"Remus. Shut up," Sirius said sharply, not allowing Remus to get another word else wise. He had found that the easiest way was to simply _not _hear what Remus wanted instead of saying no after the fact.

Remus fell silent and let his gaze wander down to the floor. He counted to eighty in his head before tapping the raven haired on the shoulder.

"What?" Sirius half spun around, but the werewolf held his ground.

"Sirius, I need to...Can I go to the bath--"

"No," Sirius said and turned back around so he didn't have to see the expression on Remus' face. He struck up a conversation with the girl in front of him in order to distract him.

Remus bit his lip and crossed his legs. He counted out two-hundred seconds slowly.

"Padfoot--"

"Do you not understand _English_?" Sirius snapped, drawing out each word slowly and a number of the crowd snickered.

A tell tale pink blush crept up across Remus' face.

"Yes," he muttered, looking down and scuffing the toes of his shoes to have something else to concentrate other than how much he needed to use the bathroom and how his classmates tittered at him.

"Then could you be so kind," Sirius mocked. "As to tell me what you do not understand about the word no?"

"I--"

"Who said you could speak?" Remus closed his mouth and felt the intense burn of humiliation well in the pit of his stomach.

He counted to two-hundred-sixty.

"Please, Sirius, I need..." Remus trailed off when he noticed that Sirius wasn't even paying attention to him.

Remus was getting more and more frustrated by the moment. His bladder was not tolerant in the least to the unnecessary abuse. The pressure was quickly becoming more than he could live with. Remus made a quiet noise of displeasure in the back of his throat but dared not to ask again.

Sirius talked louder and turned his back more fully. He tried to keep up with the conversation while he was in his own little private agony. It was hard to keep his mind off of Remus and the guilt down at the same time.

Remus' bladder finally spilled when, after forty-five minutes he could no longer hold it any longer. Shocked silence fell thickly around the hallway. Remus' beat red shook his too long hair down in front of his eyes and glared at the floor with tears falling down his face. The silence quickly gave way to laughter.

"Can I go _now_?" Remus whispered in embarrassment, hardly loud enough for even Sirius to hear him.

Sirius nodded without looking at him. His ability to keep up nonsense conversation had died when the loud ring of the laughter stung him.

Things were going from bad to worse.

Remus bolted from the corridor. The hot tears fell down his cold face and he yanked his robe off to wrap firmly around his waist. He swiftly jumped up the staircases, taking two steps at a time. His hands scrubbed at his face as he came to a stop in front of the portrait hold.

The fat lady didn't even bother to ask him for the password. She shot him a pitying glance and murmured to him as he passed her quickly.

Classes were still in session at the time so Remus was greeted by a mercifully empty common room. He was thankful for the silence and absence of preying predatory eyes.

Remus stumbled up the winding staircase and pulled at his belt as he went. He slammed the door shut and the moment it was closed, had all of his clothes off and was in the bathroom.

In the farthest shower stall from the door, Remus turned the water on boiling hot, only turning the hot knob and not the cold one. He slid slowly down the slicked wall and hid his face in his keens as the brutal water turned his skin an angry red color.

-


	6. Chapter 6

Rating of PG-13.

I do not own the characters, JKR does. I simply borrow them.

Sirius and Remus say "I do." The Ministry says "We don't think so."

Ties That Bind.

-

Sirius stood in the hallway buzzing with fast lipped gossip. He gritted his teeth as he heard the snide remarks from a group of boys behind him and forced himself to remain impassive. The girl he had been talking to turned to him and whispered in his ear. Sirius had no idea what she had just said, but as soon as he didn't feel her sickly hot breath ghosting over the shell of his ear, he nodded his head as if following her words to a par. She seemed satisfied enough and draped herself onto of him.

He waited for the bell, not wanting to seem too eager to rush off and find Remus. He allowed the blond to stay close to him but would not touch her nor acknowledge her. When the bell rang, sounding louder than usual in the stone walled corridor, Sirius disentangled himself from the crowd and walked around the corner.

As soon as he was sure that he was out of sight from any of his classmates, he ran. Ran fast and took two shortcuts that would insure that he would not run into any groups of students changing one dull class for the next.

His thoughts whirled as fast as his feet carried him. It was hard for Sirius to grasp onto a steady thought. He knew one thing for sure. This entire issue had gotten completely out of hand and that he needed to get Remus to understand him.

By the time he was standing directly outside of his dorm room door, Sirius was still no closer to deciding what to say to Remus than he had been in the crowed hallway. Sirius came up short from opening the door, his breath slightly exaggerated from his run. He pressed himself flat against the door and held his breath the better to hear.

He didn't need to in order to hear the harsh noises that were coming from beyond the door. Dry choking sounds that made him flinch back from the door and bow his head. Sirius twisted the knob gently and found it unlocked.

_He was too upset to even think about locking the door._

Sirius felt bittersweet. Remus was terribly upset and it was due to his own actions, and yet he would not have to force himself in and further alarm his husband. Things were going to be hard enough as it was. He did not need a locked door to be added onto the situation.

At the same time that Sirius opened the door, something small and round collided with the wood paneled wall behind his shoulder. It hit the wall hard with the sharp sound of metal on wood, fell to the floor, rolled on its side, and fell silent and still at the edge of the landing.

Sirius gulped as he stooped to pick it up, already knowing what it was.

_God, this is what I wanted...But..._

Just as his fingers closed around it he found himself bathed in shadow. Breath so much unlike that of the girl's from the hallway bathed on the side of his face. Slowly, he tilted his head up and he picked the ring up.

"I want out," Remus said in a quiet voice in between hurt and anger. His eyes were hard so that they were nearly unrecognizable. The few salty tears gave away his mixture of emotions.

"Remus, I—"

"I don't want to _hear_ what you have to say," Remus got as close as he could without touching Sirius. "I would ask if I could punch you if it weren't such a ridiculous question—"

"Yes."

Remus took a half step backwards, slight shock showing on his face before it disappeared. He raised an eyebrow. Sirius looked back at him honestly and in waiting. His hands were limp at his side.

Remus sighed. "Oh...For Gods sake, Padfoot. I'm not going to hit you."

"I wouldn't reject—"

"I. Want. Out. That's all I want. I don't _care_ about this bond. I want out. Now."

Relief washed over the grim Animagus' features at these words. He moved to brush a stray strand of hair behind Remus' ear.

"Don't touch me," Remus spat, backing all the way into the dorm room.

"Moony, Moony, it's me."

"I know very well who you are, and it's not who I thought you to be."

"If you'll just let me explain—" Sirius rushed in one breath.

"Explain? Explain what? Yes, will you _please_ explain _why_ you _hate_ me?"

"I..." Sirius broke off and simply stared into Remus' cold eyes. He stepped into the dorm room. For every step he took forward, Remus matched him going backwards. Sirius kicked the door shut behind him. "Hate you?"

"Yes. I know you do. What I don't know is why—"

"Moony, Rem," Sirius said, grabbing him by the shoulders.

"Sirius, don't—"

Remus was cut off when Sirius pushed him against the wall. His breath caught somewhere in the middle of his throat.

"I could never hate you, Remus. Just...Will you let me explain?"

Remus looked away from him and clenched his hands silently.

"Look at me."

Remus' head snapped front and Sirius pushed down the urge to be upset with himself, he had more important things on his mind.

"You have ten minutes."

"I...I guess I should have never asked Alastor Moody for help. But I never thought, never even thought, Remus, that it would get this bad."

Sirius' grip loosened and his arms fell to his sides. His eyes turned down cast. He could feel more than see as Remus side stepped around him and perched on the edge of James' four poster.

"It sounds like you have a lot to say. I'm willing to listen to you, but you gotta tell me something first, Sirius."

"What's that?" Sirius asked, looking over his shoulder.

"Was it something I did?"

He sighed and sat down next to Remus on the red quilted bed their thighs touching. "No."

"I'm listening."

"Can I hold your hand, Remus?"

Remus raised an eyebrow. "You don't have to ask, Sirius."

Sirius smiled slightly and took his hand in his own.

-

Early on the next morning, the pair arose quietly. They were tangled in each others limbs and twisted bed sheets. Sirius murmured against Remus' lips and Remus smiled back, granting permission.

"Ready?" Sirius whispered and slipped his hand into Remus' slimmer one.

"As ever."

For the second time in the past months Remus flooed to the Ministry of Magic with a green and white certificate in his pocket. Only this time, Sirius was beside him.

_Makes it all that much easier_, Remus thought as they stepped out of the other end of the fireplace together. He tightened his grip on Sirius' hand. That same hand removed itself from his grip and replaced itself firmly around his waist.

A strong sense of deja vu rushed over Remus as he stood in front of the heavy wooden desk, behind which sat a man in his early thirties with a crisp green button down shirt with the initials WC in black. He had his dragon hide booted feet propped up on the desk surface and reclined lazily behind a magazine.

Sirius looked over to Remus and silently raised an eyebrow. Remus shrugged and mouthed something that looked a lot like _He's always like this._

Sirius cleared his throat loudly. The man behind the desk sighed irritably, dog eared his page, and set the magazine down rather forcefully.

"Yes?" He asked as if he were not being paid to sit behind the desk in the first place, and an air of false sense of politeness. His eyes scrutinized Sirius carefully, he'd already been familiarized with Remus on a number of different occasions.

"We're here to file for a divorce," Sirius slammed the official Ministry paper down with the same amount of force the Werewolf Control officer had.

The man's beady eyes traveled down the paper that he now held in his hands. They jumped over the edge of the paper to wearily eye their linked hands. His eyes narrowed as Remus stiffened and Sirius rubbed reassuring circles into the back of his hand.

"I see," he sneered at Remus and pulled a stack of papers out of the top most drawer. "Keep them handy." He waved the papers vaguely in the air between them and pushed them across the table.

Sirius snorted but made no comment but to take out the Muggle ball point and sign in all of the appropriate places.

"Surprised you lasted as long as you did," the man muttered absentmindedly, flipping page by page through his magazine to return to his marked page. He paused to watch the pen fly rapidly from over the top of the magazine. "Must be kind of nice though, huh?"

Sirius' hand froze, the ink flow ceasing in the middle of a word and forming a small centered puddle on his letter 'i'.

"Nice?" His voice was low and quiet, he could feel Remus take a step closer to him in anticipation.

"Well, there's nothing to fight about, is there? I wouldn't mind one myself," he reclined in his chair with an easy laugh. "I'd like to be able to spit out a 'spread 'em, whore,' with immediate results."

Remus flinched slightly and if possible, Sirius' eyes became even harder.

"You'd have to tell me about it some time," Sirius growled, finishing his signature without breaking his glare and slamming the paper work into straight order. His surname on the last line was overly bold.

When the man picked up the papers to make sure all was in proper order, he noticed this detail and paled. He looked quickly to the name to the boy standing in front of him.

"Well?" The grim Animagus hissed, voice clipped and slipped his hand back into Remus'. The officer was left speechless and settled for gaping at them both.

"Aren't you going to get this over with so we can leave?" Sirius growled. The officer nodded and drew his wand. He held it aloft for several seconds. "Well?"

"Oh, right..." He set the papers down at last and got up from his chair. He hesitated yet again and Sirius finally lost his patience and temper.

"Do you understand English or not?"

Beside him, Remus went rigid and his hand struggled away from Sirius'. Sirius' grip tightened reassuringly.

The man shook his head, started the spell, found his voice gone, cleared his throat, and finally sighed and preformed the spell.

It took a total of three minutes to be complete. Remus Lupin and Sirius Black left the office room much lighter and hand in hand.

-

They lay awake for hours, curled around each other like litter mates and exchanging simple touches in the quiet of the night. Sirius sighed in delight and allowed his eyes to fall close at the feel of Remus' fingers resting on the tips of his lips. Knowing it was there because of an unspoken permission.

Their arms were draped around one another's middles and their foreheads were hardly touching.

"Padfoot?"

"Hm?"

"Love you."

"Love you too, Rem."

There was no need for any vows or a ring. There was no need for a ceremony and the blessings.

This was all either of them needed, would ever need. And they were content in that knowledge.

The silent bonds that held them close completed them. The unspoken ties that bound them for life.

The willing bonds. The ties of love, the ties that bind.

-


End file.
